chicken with large swollen underside

[sheridangirl]

The body area under my chicken's tail is swollen. She cannot walk. She is eating and alert. I thought she was egg bound but when I checked inside her vent, I can feel a large hard mass under the skin inside the bottom of her vent. I don't feel any eggs. Can anyone give me any ideas?

 

[SpottedCrow]

Take her in the house and give her a warm bath. Let her soak for 15-20 minutes then take her out. Dry her off and keep her separate from the other birds. If you have a heating pad or a hot water bottle let her sleep on that...make sure that you have towels wrapped around either so that she can't get burned.
The warm bath and the heatingpad/water bottle will relax the muscles a little so that the egg make be easier to be pushed out.

Is she a new layer?
Has she pooped at all?

 

[pollysmum]

Once you have done as Spotted Crow has suggested and leave the bird in a warm area sitting on a warm towel (I heat mine in the microwave)

See if she improves, if she doesn't then she may have something else going wrong with her

It may be what they call Internal laying, if the yolks can't be absorbed by the hens then it turns into EYP, which stands for Egg Yolk Peritonitis, some forms are deadly, while others the birds can live with for quite some time, even though the area your referring to does stay large and bulbish, nothing you can really do about it to be honest

Some say you can reduce the swelling by injecting and removing the liquid, but its very invasive and stressful for the bird and you and its not long term

Or your bird may have LL... which stands for Lymphoid Leukosis, its a form of cancer in that region of the birds, nothing you can do for her if it is this either, just keep them as comfortable as possible and as clean and happy as you can for the time they have left

A friends of mine has an old girl in her flock with this at the moment, she has been like it for nearly 12 months now, some days she looks like she wants to give up, then the next day she is out and about doing what all the others are doing, and apart from her swelling she looks ok for an old girl of around 9 years old

 

[Katy]

One of my welsummer hens had what sounds like the same thing last fall. She wasn't egg bound. She didn't act like she felt bad...ate and drank like normal. She went into molt and as time went on the swelling subsided. They are just now starting to lay again so we'll see what happens with her. She's probably 5 years old.